The geeks were scratching their heads — and not just because of psoriasis this time: What kind of a world is it where Marvel’s The Avengers is not going to Comic-Con, but Francis Ford Coppola is? That’s not to say this isn’t welcome news; The Godfather and Apocalypse Now filmmaker hasn’t been to the San Diego convention since 1991 for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Now he’s back with Twixt. This gothic indie (which doesn’t yet have a distributor or a release date) follows a hack horror novelist (Val Kilmer) as ghostly visions in a bizarre small town lead him to explore the murder of a young girl (Super 8’s Elle Fanning, pictured with the filmmaker on the set). Coppola describes the story as inspired by the eerie writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. It’s also a throwback to the Oscar-winner’s early years as a writer-director on schlocky-but-fun genre pictures by B-movie mogul Roger Corman. For Comic-Con attendees, this is an offer you can’t refuse.